Willits welcomes Our Lady with procession

Willits' St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church hosted the International Pilgrim Virgin Statue of Our Lady of Fatima the first weekend of January. The statue was honored in Willits by a procession and two days of devotion by the local parish.

The famous statue was sculpted in 1947 by Joseph Thedim based on the description provided by one on the young seers who witnessed the 1917 visitation by Our Lady in Fatima, Portugal. The statue was blessed in the presence of some 150,000 pilgrims in 1947. The statue has traveled extensively worldwide visiting 100 countries. The statue has been travelling primarily throughout North America since February 2009.

The Pilgrim Statue is scheduled to travel from parish to parish in Northern California for much of this month.

"The Pilgrim Lady, as is her nature and style, came to our town quietly and humble," says St. Anthony's Father Tekle Dini. "The carriers and a good number of faithful were there to usher her into the church. Mary has filled our evening, our town and our landscape with intense spirituality.

"Although silent and unassuming, the echo of her message of love and peace was heard by many hearts and has permeated and spread throughout the redwood valleys, mountains, creeks and over all the landscape," says Dini. "Our Lady of Fatima is both the mother of the compassionate Son of God and our own. No doubt, she will answer the requests of her children."

The statue left Willits on January 6 on its way to Scotia. It is scheduled to be at the Our Lady Queen of Peace in Clearlake on January 17 and at St. Mary of the Angels in Ukiah on January 18.